Educating engineers in the workplace

In the UK an engineer has to complete an educational base and initial professional development in order to become professionally qualified. There are a number of pathways creating a flexible approach to achieve the necessary learning outcomes and development objectives. This flexible approach allows engineers to take advantage of opportunities that arise and to fit their education and training to their career path. A number of those pathways include an element of work-based learning in which the graduate uses opportunities in the work place to complete their education. This paper describes two pathways developed by the Joint Board of Moderators, which is the body that is responsible for accrediting educational programmes for civil, structural and highway engineers. The schemes are the employer-managed scheme aimed at those responsible for training and the self-managed scheme aimed at graduates who wish to manage their own education in the work place. The paper highlights the structure of the schemes, the plans to achieve the necessary learning outcomes and the means of assessing their level of competency.